The Oakland Roots and the Sacramento Republic met for the first time in USL league play Wednesday night and tied 3-3. Here are three things we learned from the game.
1) Sacramento looks destined to become Oakland’s main rival
A professional sports team needs a rival. It doesn’t necessarily have to be a local geographical rival, but it adds some extra spice to the competition when that happens.
For example, the San Jose Earthquakes and the Los Angeles Galaxy have developed an intense competition over their matches, now known as the California Classico.
Watching the Roots and Republic battle it out Wednesday night, you could see the foundations of a local Northern California Derby taking root.
The first fifteen minutes were full of some physical play between the two teams saying hello to each other in their first competitive match (Republic beat Oakland 5-1 in the pre-season, but that was a friendly).
Then the scoring spigot opened up. By the final whistle, each side had scored three goals each in a wide-open and entertaining affair.
Fortunately, we won’t have to wait long to see these two teams face off again. Sacramento will be Oakland’s opponent for the Root’s home opener at Laney Stadium on June 19.
Now all the fans of both teams have to figure out the name for the local derby. The NorCal Derby? The I-80 Derby? What would you like to see it called?
2) Does wondergoal signal arrival of Ariel Mbubmba?
When the Oakland Roots announced their first official roster in 2019, the most intriguing prospect was 17-year-old Ariel Mbumba.
Mbumba, now 19, was born in the Democratic Republic of Congo but grew up in San Jose. He developed as a player in the San Jose Earthquakes U-14 Academy, Juventus Sports Club, Portland Timbers Academy, and DeAnza Force before joining the Roots.
He only featured in two of eight Roots games in 2019. However, for the 2020 NISA season, Mbumba played in all nine Roots games.
When the team jumped from the third to the second division, Mbumba was a handful of players the team kept on the roster.
“Over the last year, Ariel has grown significantly within our environment and shown he’s ready for the step-up in level,” explained head coach Jordan Ferrell after the team’s announcement last November. “Ariel represents the foundation of what we want to build in becoming a destination for young Bay Area talent to realize their professional dreams.”
In their inaugural USL campaign, Mbumba is becoming an integral cog in the club’s midfield, teaming up with another Bay Area teenage talent, Danny Flores.
Mbumba has shown flashes of his skill, but they were on full display against Sacramento. His aggressive run down the middle of the field and distribution directly led to the Roots’ first goal. But that was just an appetizer to his strike in the 40th minute.
Mbumba received a ball at the corner of the Penalty Box off a broken corner and proceeded to wrong-foot Sacrmaneto defender Hayden Sargis to give himself an opening to strike a wicked powerful shot on target that screamed past Republic keeper Tomas Gomez.
Come through and it’s roarin.
Bangers only from Ariel Mbumba. Go on then, @apoppa_. #KnowYourRoots pic.twitter.com/v7VLx5GkGH
— Oakland Roots (@oaklandrootssc) June 3, 2021
That moment showed the potential that Ferrell has seen in practice from Mbumba. And now it is starting to show on the field during games as well.
3) Defensive miscues keep Roots from securing 3 points
Although a 1-1-1 start for an expansion side Oakland Roots isn’t anything to sneeze at, defensive miscues leading to goals have been an all too common refrain their first three games.
A trio of mistakes in the back doomed Oakland to a loss against Phoenix Rising. Then another miscue against LA Galaxy II dug the team an early goal that they were able to overcome and earn the win.
However, the same mistakes by Oakland reared their head against Sacramento. A much-too-easy lofted ball forced defender Max Ornstil to foul Sacramento forward Cameron Iwasa, which set up a free-kick opportunity that led to the Republic’s first goal.
Then after Oakland responded with two goals, a rather sloppy first fifteen minutes of the second half led to a Mbumba turnover that tied the game up.
A few minutes later, Oakland retook the lead. Another defensive miscue, an ill-timed slide tackle by winger Memo Diaz gave Sacramento’s Duke Lacroix plenty of time to pick out teammate Jordan McCrary for the equalizer.
“We have a new group, and they have to come together. Not just on how good they can be, but also how to win games getting turned over in certain moments,” said Ferrell after the game. “We got to start making smarter decisions to turn these into three points.”
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